Shangrila
by Precognition74
Summary: Aya is captured by Schwarz, leaving the remnants of Weiss mourning as Kritiker decides to abandon Abyssinian.
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: not mine. Will never be fine. Belongs to Weiss Project and someone whose name I cannot read .

Genre: Alternate universe

Shangri-La

Presented by Precognition74

**XXXXXXXXXXX**

The mission was a disaster from the very start, the weather had gone foul and it was raining very heavily with thunder crashing through the air. It wasn't supposed to happen that way, they had checked and double checked weather reports. Then because of the weather, reception from their earpieces had died off halfway through the mission. They lost contact with each other.

The next time he saw Aya again, they were in the same room as the target. The target was dead, true, his abdomen sliced open with a large gaping hole and with intestines spilling out in a grotesque fashion.

Aya however, was not left unscathed, the target had apparently, also, managed to get a lethal shot at Aya before he died. Omi watched in horror, was fresh blood gushed out of the hole in torrents, Omi guessed it must have affected a major artery, for it to be bleeding this badly.

Then Schwarz appeared 2 of them, Crawford, the precognitive and Nagi the telekinetic. They stood side-by-side, watching emotionlessly as Omi sobbed into Aya's chest. Aya had already lost consciousness, he was dying, there would be no time to reach the hospital, Aya would die en route.

Omi kept an eye on them warily. Aya stirred, " Schwarz…" he murmured so softly. Omi suddenly felt a certain heat in the room. It was getting hot!

"Aya? Aya, what's going wrong, damn! This wasn't supposed to happen." Omi cried.

The 2 schwarz members seemed unconcerned by the heat, they made no move other than to watch Omi try to heft his older teammate onto his back before collapsing on the floor. The room was burning, the large piles of paper present in the room helping to fuel the fire.

"Go away, just go away…" Omi cried brokenly, as he lay on Aya's bloodstained dress. Crawford nodded to Nagi.

"I'll take Abyssinian now. If you know what is good for your team mate I suggest you leave him to us. We can save his life. You cannot." Crawford said calmly. Omi looked through blurred eyes as Aya floated to the Schwarz members, he could only watch them disappear into the flames. He was coughing desperately, lungs trying to be rid of the ash and smoke.

**XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX**

Omi woke up in a white hospital gown.

"Aya-kun?" he asked. Nobody replied, his throat hurt, and his bed smelt antiseptic. His mind told him, the familiar setting would be Magic Bus hospital. He seldom got bad enough to be sent here though,. Where was Aya?

Oh God! Crawford, there was nobody in the same room ass him, he whispered " Schwarz… what have I done?" he slumped back on his pillow.

There were voices outside discussing, and then the door opened. Manx walked in, red heels clicking confidently on the floor.

"I'm sorry Omi." She said.

'_You're not sorry_.' Omi thought immediately. She wanted something, she wouldn't visit him like that

"He's not dead." Omi said simply, his throat burning.

Manx cocked an eyebrow. She walked to his bedside table and poured a glass of water and offered it to Omi. Omi took it and drank in slow sips.

"Aya's not dead." Omi croaked.

"Mission report?"

'_Oh fuck your report, Manx, Aya's in trouble and all you want is a mission report_?' Omi thought angrily, it was not his fault he was in a prissy mood.

"I'm quitting." Manx frowned and crossed her arms. Omi could she, she was going to lecture him again, like a child! She clearly saw his decision as immature and in impulse.

"You know you cannot quit, don't you?" she reprimanded. Omi starred at the wall behind her.

"No, I can. You know that too. I'm quitting now."

"And leave Ken and Yohji alone?" Manx asked coyly.

'_Damn her! She cannot use them against me. The bitch, how dare she do that_.'

"They're quitting too." Omi said fiercely. Manx narrowed her eyes.

"All of you are dead. You will have no life outside. Think about it, Bombay. You have no right to control anybody's life. And your life is not yours anyway, and neither are theirs. Yohji, Ken, or Aya." Manx spoke with much conviction. She emphasized the 'or'. Omi nearly shouted, _we are not like animals! Our Life is ours, why are we not to do what we wish? Aya, or anyone of us for that matter, never chose to become assassins! I'm sure he never wanted it to end up this way_!

"You're wrong. I can prove you wrong."

"Then go alone, do not take anyone with you, do not influence them anymore, if they stay, it is their choice, and you do not try to order them around. Persia will hear of this."

"Do you think I can just stay and do nothing whole the lives of my friends are in constant danger? I cannot allow them to do that!"

"Then stay, you do not have to leave."

Omi fell silent. He looked at his lap, memorizing the lines of the blanket. '_I have to. I have to do that, leave. I cannot stay anymore, not after I let Aya down like that. Then, you're running away from responsibility aren't you? You'll have to stay in Kritiker if you want to rescue Aya again. Kritiker has all the resources you can never find on your own_.'

Manx could see the internal debate clearly visible on Omi face. She read the boy like a book, after all, it was her who brought him up, sent him to school and attended his elementary school graduation ceremony, she practically brought him up. Because of that, she was pretty sure that the argument was currently in her favour. The edges of her lips twitched up in a smile. She would have her way.

"Think about it, Bombay, I'll come and speak to you again tomorrow." She said. Omi did not reply. _'The boy is just too predictable_.' She thought. Her heels clicked distinctly on the hospital floors, they echoed a bit in the care ward. She did stand out very much, a spot of red in a sea of white. She taints. That she does.

Omi's forehead wrinkled in thought, 'stupid me… blabbering off my mouth again, I should have thought it through carefully and organised my thoughts before I confronted her. I know that now she has the upper hand.' Omi cursed mentally, then his eyes softened, " Aya…"

**XXXXXXXXXX**

Not long after Manx left the room, Yohji and ken strode in. Ken's chocolate brown eyes were shiny, " I'm sorry Omi-kun, I should've been there… I'm so sorry…" Yohji had an arm around Ken's shoulders, he had his familiar sunglasses perched characteristically on his nose. It hid his eyes perfectly. Omi knew why. Yohji-kun did not want anyone to see the pain in his eyes. The red-head had become one of them, their family, but being the happy-go-lucky character that yohji always present, he could not show that he was sad.

Instead, Yohji only drawled, " bishounen, I know you're upset, we all are, but we've got to get back up yanno." Yohji did not seem aware of it, but his voice wavered. It wasn't filled with his usual confidence.

"Get back up? Didn't you hear what Manx said? We're giving Ran-kun away! She's given up on him. Even if she says that we can make use of Krtiker's resources, the time and effort is our own! Kritiker doesn't care about Ran-kun!"

Yohji was startled. His mouth opened as if he wanted to say something but clamped tightly shut. Instead, it was ken who said something. "I know… I know… but we have no choice do we? Kritiker will send a replacement… and I don't want a replacement! I want Ran!"

"Let's leave… we…" suddenly Omi was slapped. His cerulean eyes widened.

"Don't be stupid!" Yohji said sternly, "don't you know that we're on a one-way road? We get in, we never get out. Do you think Kritiker will just let go of us? No! They will not! We are their elite, they'll kill us if they can't get us back, we're too valuable to waste!"

"No…no no no…" moaned Ken. Tears started falling. Omi turned his head away. He knew it, but they were good enough to escape Kritiker weren't they? 'baka.' His mind told him. It was impossible.

"Go away, I want to think. Yohji, bring Ken and go away…" he was hurt, by their betrayal. He thought they were his family they would always support him. He guessed he was wrong.

Ken lifted his head, he choked back a sob. 'Omi… why?...' Yohji supported ken and walked him out of the room. Omi felt alone then. So alone… 'why does everybody leave me in the end?'


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: not mine as said in chapter 1

Warnings: none yet.

A/N: made some minor changes to chapter 1. negligible. Thanks guys for the reviews, even though it's only 3 of you. This was really slow going… well thanks for your support anyway.

Einsam: I would really appreciate it if you would point out the errors, it'll help me improve the story. As for the questions, wait and see.

Shangri-la

Chapter 2

Presented by Precognition74

**XXXXXXXXXXXX**

For the next few hours, Omi sat in the hospital alone and just thinking. When a nurse came in, he asked for his report. Strangely, he felt a lot better than what he thought he should have been feeling. Minor burns to the respiratory tract, minors burns on the side of the face, a greenstick fracture of his left ulna, and a gunshot wound on his right shoulder.

If his memory served him right, injuries like these should hurt a lot of more than what he was feeling… or maybe his nerves were dying from the many times they've been hurt. Omi shook his head.

Omi sighed after reading the report and slumped onto the bed, careless of his injuries, he didn't really care afterall… as long as it didn't hurt and cause him liability on the field, he didn't care. It was a Takatori body anyway. There were a few times Omi felt like taking revenge again on his already dead family by damaging this body that were from the same lineage as them. It seemed like a stupid thing to do.

Aya… it was strange… Schwarz have never tried to capture anyone of them before. Why was Aya special? It was his sister that they want right? Why capture him? Omi really could fathom the minds of them.

Also, there was the way Manx was blatantly threatening him. It was unnatural. She never really tried to threaten him. She was like the mother figure he never had. But ten why was she like this today? In the past, Kritiker had never really stopped them from leaving, only if they refused a mission for tried to oppose Weiss. Well, maybe it was because they knew that they could not leave the others. Maybe Manx was afraid of his loyalties since Aya left the group. Weiss was not Weiss anymore with any one of them. Perhaps, then, she felt desperate; she was ready to use anything to make him stay.

Omi flung the report that sitting on his lap ion disgust. He narrowed his eyes at the muffled whispering of the nurses outside his room. He knew they were talking about him, it irked him very much. Omi felt another tension headache coming on and rubbed his temple. Everything was spinning out of the norm, he felt helpless, like a spectator, and everybody was behaving strangely.

And as he thought about it all, Omi fell asleep.

**XXXXXXXXXXX**

When Omi woke up, it seemed like morning. A nurse walked in, a glass of milk balanced on a small tray. She told him that he should stick to fluid for a while throat recovers. Omi sat there sullenly listening to her. It was only when she went out did he take the glass from the side table and sipped it.

Omi suddenly remembered his laptop. He missed it very much… but would they bring it here for him? After how he had treated them last night, would they help him? Omi sat upright on the bed and immediately felt a wave of vertigo pass over him. The blood was rushing away from his brain and the effect left the room spinning. Omi clenched his teeth and closed his eyes tightly trying to stop the dizziness, and a stray tear made its way down a cheek. It seemed like a long time before the painful throbbing in his head subsided and Omi opened his eyes to take a good look at him ward for the first time.

His bare feet touched the ground and he withdrew from the coldness of the floor. There was a pair of pair slippers nearer to the side table, so Omi shifted a little to the right and slipped his feet in. then he braced himself against the side-table and used his right arm to hoist himself into a standing position. Pain lanced up Omi's shoulder and he let out a soft cry of pain. The room started spinning again. And the floor seemed to start floating, in his pain, Omi didn't notice as he knocked over the empty glass of water and it made a loud sound upon impact with the ground.

The earlier Nurse ran into the room and took in the scene in front of her, she uttered surprise and ran to Omi's side, " Tsukiyono-san, please do stay in bed, if there's anything you need I'll help you get it. Come on, the bed just behind. Right… okay. Now you can lie down." She murmured gently, helping him into his earlier lying down position.

Once Omi had settled down on the bed again, settle covered him with the blanket.

"Now, Tsukiyono-san, is there anything I can help you with?" she asked. Omi disliked needing help very much; it was an ingrained mentality from having to become independent from a young age. He was loathe to ask the nurse for help.

"I need a phone." Omi said reluctantly. He turned his head to the direction of the window, avoiding her kind smile. He disliked it.

"Oh, is that all? I'll get one for you. Please hold on for a few minutes." She said and padded out of the ward. Omi heard more whisperings outside his ward. Soon, the nurse came back with an orderly who went about clearing the shards of glass on the floor. She held out a phone to Omi, who took it.

"Thank you."

"You're welcomed. Next time, if there's anything you need, let me help you with it okay?" and she walked out of the door, leaving Omi with the orderly. Omi studied the uniformed man curiously. Watching at him work. There was nothing to do anyway. Omi's mind made calculations. He had more than enough time to waste. If he made the call then, the after he finished the call the man would have finished cleaning up and there would be nothing to watch. If he watched the man then made the call, he would be able to kill more time. It was all very simple to him.

The man very efficiently swept up everything and without a further ado, he left the room, leaving Omi alone and bored. Well, at least he had a call to make. After he got the laptop, there were a million things he could do.

"Youji-kun. Ah. I'm fine… yes, oh yeah; would you please bring my laptop in the bag here? Yes, including the charger and stuff. Thank you… Okay, see you." Omi clicked the phone off. 'That was scary!' he thought, but it wasn't as disastrous as he had thought.

Now what? Omi fiddled with his fingers, twirling them around he saw his mission gear sitting on the back of a chair, he thought, ' hm… isn't there a palmtop in my clothes.' It was the latest model and Omi and bought it a few months ago, fascinated by the thing, although its capabilities were nothing like those of a desktop computer or even a laptop. Well, at least its battery could last longer, and its touch pad made it more portable. For example, he could now put a water-proof plastic covering on the palmtop without compromising any for its functions. This was especially useful on wet-weather missions. There was only one main problem with bringing a palmtop instead of a laptop computer on a mission. Hacking sequences had to be programmed and the palmtop was very useful in typing, it was slow and if there was a glitch, it took a long to time to fix it. Omi thought his fascination with the machine would end soon, and then he would go back to the laptop. He would never let the palmtop take the place of any desktop or laptop though, it could never match up.

Omi's first thought was to stand up himself and take the palmtop, but he thought of the nurse and decided to press the call bell instead. He waited patiently for the nurse to arrive. And another nurse came in, not the one earlier. Inside, Omi was rather disappointed.

"Please, would you help me get my palmtop from the pocket of the jacket hanging on the back of the chair?" Omi asked. Omi almost expected her to ask why, or protest that she had better things to do than to help him take his palmtop. Instead, the nurse just did as she was told, and gently handed the palmtop to him.

After that she quickly left after a simple 'is there anything else you need?'. Omi checked the battery; there was still an hour of battery left. Omi let himself heave a sigh, by then Yohji would have arrived with his things, and he would be that bored anymore.

Actually, to say the truth, Omi was still angry with the older man. He was exasperated that he and Ken could not understand that Aya was one of them, that he was family and they couldn't possibly forsake him.

Then it came to him suddenly. Maybe he was disillusioned. Maybe he had wanted a family so much he just imagined that they were, and perhaps to anyone else, they were only comrades and nothing else. He was the only one in Weiss who had never experienced a real family. Perhaps that was why he did not know that they were not a family. Yes, that must have been what happened.

Sadly, with that new revelation, Omi switched on his palmtop and watched the starting sequence. He checked his mail, nobody missed him. Of course! 'Who am I that someone would miss me enough to leave a mail?'

A soft rap on his door took his attention from the screen.

"Omi, it's me, Yohji."

Omi held his breath. "Come in". He thought bitterly, they hadn't reverted to asking permission to enter each others' rooms in a long time.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: not mine. Belongs to Weiss project, Takehito Koyasu etc:

Warnings: none yet.

A/N: It's surprising isn't it? How people can think so illogically when they're upset. Sorry for the short one. I assure you the main plot's coming soon.

Shangri-la

Chapter 3

Presented by Precognition74

**XXXXXXXXXXXX**

Yohji entered Omi's ward. He was carrying Omi's laptop case in his left hand. His sunglasses seemed perched higher on his nose than was usual. Was he trying to hide his eyes then?

There was a tangible tension in the air, and one could almost cut it with the proverbial knife. It was Yohji who had mustered enough courage to start the conversation up first.

" Chibi, here's it is. I brought the rest of your stuff too, the adapter, the mouse and stuffs. There's also a change of clothes in there if you want to." Yohji had said quietly. Omi couldn't see it, but he could feel Yohji's gaze shift to the palmtop he was holding.

"Thank you… about Aya-kun, did you really mean it when you said that we're going to leave him?" Omi asked.

"I… Yes. There's nothing we can do." Yohji Replied resignedly. He was expecting Omi lash out like did earlier, to tell him again how important Ran was to them. Of course he knew that! 'We're a family!' Yohji wanted to tell Omi very much that yes, they could get away from Kitiker and look for Aya, for stay in Kritiker and still look for Aya. But if there was one thing Yohji learnt from being in Kritiker as long as he did: you get in, you don't get out, and you obey orders. They did not have a choice.

But contrary to what Yohji thought, Omi just sat there, quiet, contemplated. This time of silence reminded Yohji very much of the calm before the storm. He did not comment, not wanting to trigger off whatever rants Omi as starting in his head.

It did not happen.

"I see. And does Ken-kun think to same way?"

"Yes." Yohji said in a firm voice. He seemed very sure of his answer. Omi's cerulean eyes seemed to ask, 'why? Why? Do you know you have betrayed me by saying so?'

Yohji turned away from that beseeching gaze, unable to meet it.

"I see. Thank you Yohji, for bringing the laptop. Do take care." Omi said. Yohji didn't know if there was a blunter implication for his dismissal, but he nodded stiffly and left the room. The door clicked with a resounding sound. It seemed to signal the end of something. But the end of what, Omi did not know yet.

Omi did not move until he heard the steps fade away. In the distance, the left bell 'ting-ed' and Omi heaved a sigh of relief. Yohji had left the laptop on the bed. iT was within easy reaching distance. 'At least he's still considerate.' Omi thought.

He took the laptop out of it's case and set the black bag on the floor beside his bed. Omi pressed a small button on the left side of his bed and raised the back to a more comfortable height. He placed the laptop on his lap (it was called a LAPtop afterall.). He remembered Aya berating him much for doing that though. It seemed that Aya had read in the papers that the laptop gave out much radiation. Although Omi highly doubt it, it had never stopped Aya-kun from chastising him and asking him to put it on something instead of his lap.

The laptop started the booting up sequence and Omi's thoughts wandered to other things. Manx was a problem… could he really abandon Yohji and Ken for Aya? Actually no. why should he give up 2 of Weiss instead of 1? It just didn't add up mathematically. And it didn't make much sense. It really was a dilemma because if Yohji and Ken didn't want to save Aya would it mean that Weiss does not exist? If they weren't Weiss, and Aya was gone, would there be no Weiss left? His head hurt badly.

The laptop chimed a soft anime jingle and Omi logged into the internet. He waited a while, and decided to run a short security sequence he designed. Now, he could know if Kritiker tinkered with his baby or not. Yohji might've brought it, but Yohji was Kritiker wasn't he? Omi continued surfing idly as the program did its work. He searched the latest movies… Last Quarter seemed pretty popular among his classmate lately.

A small Chibi figure waved at him from the corner of the screen, Omi clicked on its speech bubble. He couldn't help but utter a soft 'damn'. This mind started supplying him with all sorts of expletives and Omi started to see red. 'How dared they!'

His computer was infested with at least 5 trackers, and they were still actively reporting his laptop's movements direct to the Kritiker base! He was really seeing red now. The little Chibi figure frowned and waved. Omi slammed the laptop shut and closed his eyes and took deep breaths.

Omi felt his pulse and breathing rate return to normal. Then with uncharacteristic gentleness, he re-opened his laptop. The Chibi was tapping its little foot against the 'floor'. Omi hastily deleted the trackers. Now, they would definitely know it. And they would pursue it… he had to make a story up to hide it.

'One lie after another, it'll be more difficult to hide after it piles up.' Omi's mind supplied. One is enough, he thought, just one. One good one. And he went about fabricating his cover story and covered the tracks and reinforced his laptop security.

It may have be Kritiker's Property, but it was HIS laptop. They GAVE it to him, so it was his now, and he would do anything to the laptop to protect HIS privacy.


End file.
